Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Revenge Blog

                                             Revenge


 What if one of these pranks happened to you? Would you be mad? Would you seek revenge? ...wait revenge, what's that? Revenge means that you retaliate for something done to you. Revenge is found in many ways in today's world. One of the most common versions is prank wars. This couple, you are about to watch in the video, have an on going prank war between the two of them. In this video the girl is revenging her boyfriend for filling her cabinets with little plastic balls by putting those same balls in his new car. Although the revenge in this video is not as violent or mean as the revenge in the book Hamlet by William Shakespeare, it is still a form of revenge. In Hamlet, Hamlet, the son of Queen Gertrude and King Hamlet, wants to kill his uncle Claudius, who is also his new step father, for killing his father. The King wanted to kill his brother so he could take the throne and his brothers wife. Hamlet does not find out who actually killed his dad until about half-way through the book, when he meets his father as a ghost one night. Hamlet is then sworn not to tell anyone about speaking with his father's ghost. He then acts like he is mad in order to make it seem like he does not know anything. It takes Hamlet most of the book to plot his revenge and to go through with it. Revenge can lead to awful things such as death or injury, or death of someone you did not want to seek vengeance on. This video is a perfect example of revenge gone wrong. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbbNC3q0L1s). See how fast revenge can go wrong? It may have been a bit of an over reaction, but it still did not turn out good for the guys who were making the revenge call. This is how it is going to be in Hamlet, also. In act three; scene four, Hamlet accidentally kills his lover's Ophelia, father while he is listening in on him and his mother's conversation. After Hamlet realizes what he has done he feels bad and says that he did not do it on purpose he was just scared as to who was listening. This also brings up a prediction that Polonius', son, Laertes, and his daughter will now want to seek revenge on Hamlet for killing their father. Since I have not finished the book I am not entirely sure how it ends but I have a clue. Revenge is a subject that is difficult to tell what the outcome will be exactly, but that is the beauty of it. In my opinion, without knowing what exactly is going to happen gives you the thrill of a mystery. Revenge is sort of tricky to grasp, sometimes you don't even realize that you are revenging someone, but then if it takes a turn for the worst you might realize what you have been doing the whole. Sometimes revenge is something planned because a boy cheats on you or something mean or ignorant is done to you. A great song to show this is Better Than Revenge by Taylor swift. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRRUMcf93FY) So think back, have you ever gotten revenge on someone? I know I have, I actually didn't even realize I did until I wrote this, weird huh? Revenge is a sneaky thing. What do you think about revenge?

Wednesday, November 28, 2012


Satire



Satire is a literary composition in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, or ridicule. In simpler terms, it's sarcasm within a story or statement. There are many examples of this literary element in books and in places you wouldn't expect. Also, there are four different satirical techniques, exaggeration, incongruity, parody, and reversal. Exaggeration is an increase beyond the normal for effect. Most people would not have recognized this as a satirical technique. Incongruity is when you place two unlike people or objects together in a story. Parody, the third satirical technique, imitates (in a serious way) in order to make fun of something. Finally, reversal is a sudden observable reversal or switch of fortune in a story. Due to these techniques most people don't even know when it is being used. For example Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain uses satire to develop characters. Huck himself is developed by satire. An example in the book is when Huck is talking to his father at any point in the story he is usually very smart and sarcastic. Another example is Twain placing Huck and Jim together in the story; this is an example of incongruity. He also uses the satirical technique of parody. He does this by parodying the Hatfield's and the McCoy's, which happened in real life, by creating the feud between the Grangerford's and the Sheperdson's in the book. Condescending Wonka is an example of satire in today's society. Condescending Wonka takes certain situations or things that are disputed or made fun of a lot and makes fun of them through even more. The satirical techniques used to create the condescending Wonka, is exaggeration, and somewhat of a parody. Want to see some more examples of satire? No? Oh well, I'm going to have to tell you some anyway. The video below is yet more satire, it is strictly a parody unlike condescending Wonka which has two satirical techniques involved. This video is making fun of, or parodying Taylor Swift's song We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.  It may be very humorous,
but it is making fun of something in a serious manner, just like any of those late night shows, such as Conan, or Jimmy Fallon. Here's an example of Conan on his show with Steve Carell making fun of things through different character voices. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKkbjXYzxXA.
 In conclusion, satire is used almost everyday in today’s odd society. People don’t even realize that they are using satire, or that the satirical techniques are what they are. Just as a reminder, the satirical techniques are exaggeration, incongruity, parody, and reversal. An example of the way satire was used in the era Mark Twain lived was his novels, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer. A few examples in today’s society are the late night talk shows, such as Conan or Late Night with Jay Leno, also many people like to make parodies and upload them to YouTube, so YouTube is a great place to find satire. Most social networks have people using sarcasm on them, which is basically what satire is, so you could find it there as well.